


Who Lives, Who Dies, Who....

by MissChrisDaae



Series: Erasing Myself from the Narrative [2]
Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-16
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-05-28 17:13:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15053960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissChrisDaae/pseuds/MissChrisDaae
Summary: When the dust settles, who is left?





	Who Lives, Who Dies, Who....

"Thor?" He looked up to see the Wakandan Princess standing there in front of him. Shuri, if he remembered correctly. And no, not Princess now. Her brother, the King, was among the lost.

" _Ndiyaxolisa ngokulahlekelwa kwakho,_ " he said quietly. _I am sorry for your loss._ She raised an eyebrow in surprise, the first time there had been an expression other than sorrow on anyone's face.

"Your accent is very odd," she said, sitting beside him.

"The All-Speak has some limitations," he explained.

"I see." Shuri pursed her lips, staring at the carved walls. "The other Avengers are going out to do what they can. To help with the damages. So many people disappeared in the middles of roads and skies... More will be lost before the day is out."

"Then we must help as many as we can," Thor said, getting to his feet despite Shuri's dubious glances. "It is what's right."

"I know, but," she sighed, looking down at the floor. "For a moment, you sounded like my brother."

Without thinking, Thor bent back down and hugged her, a swell of emotions that had been bottled up inside him since that moment, since Loki...

"Thor?"

"Forgive me," he pulled back apologetically. "It's... I lost a brother too. And I did not have time to mourn him as I would have liked. I just thought—"

"Oh." She nodded slowly. "I understand. Thank you." They sat in silence for a few moments before Shuri spoke again. "I am working on modifying one of our jets to mimic what that ax of yours does. The bridge. That would make it easier for us to get where we need to go quickly. Unless you can use the ax again?"

"I am still learning how to do so," Thor admitted. "I was never very good at magic." Shuri's face screwed up in something that might have been a pout.

"Then would you be willing to do something else to help?"

"Of course."

"Good. I'll get a jet ready, you can leave right away."

"Leave for where?"

"London."

The name of the city caught him off guard. The last time he'd seen Jane, she'd still been living in London— no longer in her mother's home, but a flat that they had loosely called theirs, given how often they were both traveling. "London?"

"You know Doctor Jane Foster, yes?" Shuri asked rather pointedly. "If she has any research I don't, I could use it."

"Jane and I are not exactly..."

"I know, we do have the Internet here. I liked her work, I thought I could improve it, realize the theory and do something even better, but Baba said it would bring too much attention to Wakanda," she explained with a sigh. "I can send the Dora Milaje, but I think she would be more willing to listen to you than to strangers."

Thor nearly told her that Jane rarely listened to anyone when she wasn't in the mood, but instead, he nodded. "Very well."

* * *

"Baby, please, I'm trying," Jane said miserably as she bounced Astrid up and down, walking the length of the bedroom. "I know you miss her, I miss her too."

It had all happened so fast. One moment, everything had been fine. Darcy had been holding Astrid and talking about getting her a new stuffed animal, and the next, she'd just been  _gone_. Astrid had nearly hit the floor as Darcy had crumbled into a rustlike ash, and her screams had been deafening as Jane had caught her.

Jane still didn't understand what had happened, or why. What she did know was that there was a vaguely familiar ache in her bones that hadn't gone away since Darcy had disappeared. "I miss her too," Jane said again.

The entire flat seemed to shake and she turned to see an old, achingly familiar display of rainbow light.  _Oh my God, please, please, please,_ she prayed, clutching her daughter tightly as she hurried out to her back patio.

There he was. His armor looked different. His hair had been cropped short. One of his eyes was somehow the wrong color, but she couldn't focus on any of that, because  _he was there._

"Thor."

"Jane."

One syllable each, but so much, so much weighed those words down. Relief, pain, loss, longing, surging in a storm.

"Hi," she said lamely. Thor didn't say anything, just looked at her. No, actually, he was looking at Astrid. At the brown eyes that were Jane's. At the blonde hair that was definitely not.

"Dummass?" the baby girl asked, tilting her head at him curiously and reaching out to him.

"Did she just call me a dumbass?" he asked slowly.

 "I've been mad at you a lot lately," Jane explained. "And called you that in front of her."

"Is she...?"

"Yes. I'd have told you, but—"

"But you dumped me," he finished, and for a moment, Jane felt guilty about that choice. 

"I warned you."

"You did." 

"Do you want to come inside and talk?" she asked.

"I think it might be better if you came with me," he said softly. "Jane, we need your help."

Help with what? The scientist part of Jane was intrigued, but the part of her that was scared and unsure and a mother did not want to leave the house. "Can you go into more detail first? Where would we be going? What am I helping with?"

"Wakanda. And it would be using your research to try and help as many people as we can. Until we can find a way to undo what Thanos has done."

"Thanos?" Jane repeated the unfamiliar name, the name Thor had said with the kind of hatred and venom that she reserved for people like Donald Blake and Loki and half the guys in her class at Harvard. "You've lost me."

"Jane." And with that repeated utterance of her name, Thor closed the distance between them, pressing his forehead to hers. Jane smelled ozone on his skin along with smoke and something she couldn't name, something that felt older than time. Between them, Astrid squirmed, her little hands tapping on the dark metal circles of her father's armor. "I give you my word I will tell you everything, but it is a long story, and we have precious little time to waste. But we need your help. And I... I need you."

She looked up at him, her face softening with the last three words. "Good to know the two things are separate."

"Will you come, then?"

"Will you give me about twenty minutes to pack everything Astrid and I need?" He nodded. "Good. Here." She stepped away from him but held the baby up in front of him like she was Simba at the beginning of  _The Lion King._ "You two can start getting properly acquainted while I do that."

"I..."

She had seen a lot of crazy stuff since they'd first met. But nothing quite measured up to the utter bewilderment of Thor being caught off-guard by the prospect of holding their child. "Even if she bites you, it's not going to hurt," she chided. "Come on."

Slowly and rather awkwardly, he took the little girl from her, speaking softly in what she could only assume was Asgardian. Astrid stared at him, then reached out and grabbed his beard, repeating "dummass."

"Papa," he corrected. "I'm Papa."

"Dummass Papa."

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Jane smiled, then headed upstairs to get the baby bag, her notebook and her external drives. This was going to be one hell of a trip.


End file.
